Railroad ballast plow

ABSTRACT

A RAILWAY BALLAST PLOW HAS A PAIR OF DIVIDED PLOW OR MOLDBOARD BLADES MOUNTED ON A FRAME CARRIED AT ONE END OF A VEHICLE. REMOTE CONTROLS ON THE VEHICLE ADJUST THE FRAME VERTICALLY AND FOR STEERING, SHIFT THE BLADES BETWEEN WORK POSITIONS, AND ACTUATE LOCKING DOGS TO LOCK THE BLADES IN WORK POSITIONS INDEPENDENTLY OF THE SHIFT MECHANMISM. EACH BLADE HAS LATERAL HALVES HINGED TO EACH OTHER AND TO A CENTRAL FIXED HINGE PIN. THE TWO HALF BLADES AT EACH SIDE ARE INTERCONNECTED FOR SIMULTANEOUS MOVEMENT BY A HYDRAULIC SWING CYLINDER, BETWEEN FORWARD AND REARWARD OPERATING POSITIONS WHERE THEY ARE LOCKED TO THE FRAME BY THE LOCKING DOGS. THE PLOW FRAME IS TILTABLY AND SWINGABLY MOUNTED ON A LIFT CARRIAGE AT ONE END OF A RAILWAY VEHICLE, WITH A FIXED PIVOT AT ONE SIDE AND WITH AN ADJUSTABLE PIVOT AT THE OPPOSITE SIDE WHICH IS MOVABLE LONGITUDINALLY TO SWING THE FRAME ABOUT THE FIXED AND HENCE TO POSITION THE PLOW TO FOLLOW A CURVED TRACK.

Sept 20 1971 J. K. KERsHAw 3,605,297

RAILROAD BALLAST PLOW Eig. 2 INVENTOR JOHN KNOX KERSHAW ATTORNEYS Sept. 20, 19,71 J. K. KERsHAw 3,605,297

RAILROAD BALLAST PLOW med Augyvs.' 196e s sheets-smet a INVENTOR JOHN KNOX KERSHAW ATTORNEYS Sept. 20, v1971 J, K, KERSHAW v 3,605,297

RAILROAD BALLAST PLow Filed Aug. 5,` 1968 3 Sheets-Shoot 5 INV ENTOR JOHN KNOX KERSHAW ATTORNEYS States Patent O "i 3,605,297 RAILROAD BALLAST PLOW John Knox Kershaw, Southport, Ind., assignor to The Marmon Group, Inc., Chicago, Ill. Filed Aug. 5, 1968, Ser. No. 750,101 Int. Cl. E011) 27/00 U.S. Cl. 37-105 10 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A railway ballast plow has a pair of divided plow or moldboard blades mounted on a frame carried at one end of a vehicle. Remote controls on the vehicle adjust the frame vertically and for steering, shift the blades between work positions, and actuate locking dogs to lock the blades in work positions independently of the shift mechanism. Each blade has lateral halves hinged to each other and to a central rxed hinge pin. The two half blades at each side are interconnected for simultaneous movement by a hydraulic swing cylinder, between forward and rearward operating positions where they are locked to the frame by the locking dogs. The plow frame is tiltably and swingably mounted on a lift carriage at one end of a railway vehicle, with a lixed pivot at one side and with an adjustable pivot at the opposite side which is movable longitudinally to swing the frame about the fixed pivot and hence to position the plow to follow a curved track.

This invention relates to a ballast plow for distributing ballast on a railway and for shifting ballast from one area of the roadbed to another; and is an improvement of the apparatus shown in my prior Pat. No. 3,019,536. The head block and broom device are disclosed in my copending application Ser. No. 718,560, now Pat. No. 3,503,339, and copending application Ser. No. 712,832, now Pat. No. 3,533,121.

A railway roadbed comprises a thick layer of ballast in the form of crushed limestone or similar material, which supports the cross ties on which the track rails are laid. The ballast bed is shaped to have a generally horizontal top face over the length of the ties, and to have sloped banks at and beyond the ends of the ties. The top surface of the ballast bed is desirably level with or slightly below the top faces of the ties and the ties and rails should be free of loose ballast.

The ballast bed is subject to deterioration and requires periodic maintenance. Both in such maintenance and in the original construction of the road bed, new ballast is dumped onto the road bed from cars, generally between the rails, and such new ballast must be spread. In other circumstances it is desirable to shift ballast from one area of the roadway to another. The main work of spreading and shifting ballast is desirably done by a blade device such as a plow or moldboard, and the desired finished condition can then be obtained with a brush or broomtype implement.

The present invention provides a plow or moldboard device to be carried by a railway vehicle, which will efciently perform that main work of spreading and shifting railway ballast, and which is conveniently adjustable from the vehicle cab to position its blades for different operation. The plow desirably has an interconnected pair of divided plow blades or moldboards, each lateral half of which is adjustable to shift the ballast either to the right or the left. The two halves of the blade pair may be positioned to shift the ballast either in the same lateral direction or in opposite lateral directions, and either toward the center or away from the center of the roadway. The blades are desirably mounted on a plow frame which is carried on a lift carriage of a headblock at one end 3,605,297 Patented Sept. 20, 1971 of a railway vehicle, and the frame may be tilted between operative and travel positions, the carriage may be raised or lowered, and the frame may be swung laterally about a pivot on the carriage to steer the plow along a curved track. All movements and adjustments of the plow frame and blades are actuated by hydraulic cylinders or other motor means controlled remotely in a control cab on the railway vehicle so that rapid and efficient operation may be performed.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the two lateral halves of each plow blade are hinged to a central fixed hinge pin, and the two hinge pins for the two blades are spaced longitudinally of the plow frame. The two half blades at each side are held parallel to each other by a spacer link, and a hydraulic cylinder is connected to swing them between forward and rearward operating positions. In each operating position they are locked by remotely operated locking dogs, which support them independently of the hydraulic cylinders by which they are shifted.

The plow frame is desirably pivoted to the lift carriage by a xed pivot at one side of the headblock. At the opposite side, the plow frame is connected to a pivot .on the headblock by a bolster on which the plow frame is shiftable longitudinally by a hydraulic cylinder to swing such frame about the lfixed pivot at the opposite side for guiding the plow along a curved track.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention. In such drawings:

FIG. 1 is a somewhat diagrammatic side elevation of a universal track machine equipped with a ballast plow embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the ballast plow and the headblock by which it is attached to the frame of the vehicle;

FIG. 3 is a front elevation of the ballast plow and vehicle shown in FIG. l;

FIG. 4 is a partial sectional view taken `on the line 4 4 of FIG. 2 and showing a rail brush for clearing the tops of the rails of ballast immediately ahead of the vehicle track wheels;

FIG. 5 is a section taken on the line S--S of FIG. 4; and

FIG. 6 is a side elevation of the plow assembly shown in FIG. 2.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The vehicle 10 shown in FIG. 1 is a prime mover adapted for operation either on a road or on a standard railway comprising a pair of rails 12 mounted on ties 14 laid in a ballast bed 16.

The vehicle 10' comprises a frame 18 mounted by springs on the axles of front and rear road wheels 20, all of which are driven by drive shafts from an engine 22 on the vehicle. The lateral spacing or tread of the road wheels 20 is such that the wheels will ride on the rails 12. The vehicle includes a control cab 24 at its forward end which contains a seat for the operator, a steering wheel and other controls for the vehicle, and controls for the hydraulic cylinders or motors which actuate or adjust the various work elements carried by the prime mover. The engine 22 drives an oil pump to supply hydraulic power for operation of such hydraulic actuators.

Each end of the vehicle 10 carries a headblock assembly 30 in which is mounted a rail wheel carrier 32 which includes a pair of posts (FIG. 3) slidably mounted in vertical guides 31, and is raised and lowered by a pair of hydraulic cylinders 33 connected to the guides 31. The carrier 32 carries a pair of rail wheels 34 and is operable to retract such wheels for road travel and to lower them to engage the rails 12 for guiding the drive wheels 20 on the track, and for transmitting directly to the rails a selected proportion of the weight of the prime mover and of its working equipment. Each headblock also carries an outer pair of tubular guides 36 which slidably receive the end posts 38 of a mounting frame 40 which is lraised and lowered by a pair of hydraulic cylinders 42. Each mounting frame l40 has a pair of laterally spaced lower brackets 44 for tiltably supporting a work element and has a pair of spaced sheaves 46 at its upper end on which are wound cables 47 for supporting the projecting end of the work element.

A track broom implement 48 is shown mounted on the headblock 30 at the rear of the vehicle 10.

A ballast side-bank working tool or wing S0 is carried at each side of the prime mover 10. This is arranged for vertical, horizontal, and tilting adjustment in a lowered working position (FIG. 1), and arranged to be swung upward to a travel position as shown at the left in FIG. 3.

The headblock at the front of the vehicle is more fully shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. The upper end of the mounting frame 40 includes a cross head 41 in which is mounted a hydraulic cylinder 52 connected to a sheave S4 in the bight of an operating cable 56 wound about an operating sheave 58 mounted -beside the sheave 46 at the right of FIG. 3. Operation of the cylinder 52 advances and retracts the sheave 54 and causes the operating cable 56 to rotate the shaft carrying the sheaves 46, and thus to pay out and pull up on the cables 47.

The front headblock carries the ballast plow. Such plow comprises a frame 60 having spaced side members 62 and 63, central frame members 64 and 65, and three transverse frame members 66, 67 and 68. The side frame member 62, shown at the top of FIG. 2, is connected at the rear by a vertical fixed pivot 70 to a tilt bracket 72 mounted by a horizontal tilt pin to the mounting bracket 44 at one side of the mounting frame 40 of the headblock. The opposite frame member 63, shown at the bottom of FIG. 2, is formed to slidably engage a bolster 74, the rear end of which is connected by a vertical pivot 76 to a tilt bracket 72 pivoted on a horizontal axis to the mounting bracket 44 at the other side of the mounting frame 40. The front end of the bolster 74 is connected to the piston rod 77 of a hydraulic cylinder 78 anchored to the side frame member 63. Actuation of such cylinder 78 moves the side frame member 63 forward or rearward with respect to the supporting pivot 76 and hence swings the frame 60 as a Whole about the fixed pivot 70 at the opposite side of the headblock. This will swing the plow frame 60 laterally to steer its plow blades along a curved track.

The plow frame 60 carries a pair of spaced plow blades, each composed of two blade halves made with front and rear face plates fixed to suitable edge and internal ribs. The front blade comprises blade halves 80 and 81 hinged to each other and to a fixed hinge post 84 carried by a mounting plate 85 on the central frame members 64 and 65. The rear blade comprises blade halves 82 and 83 hinged to each other and to a fixed hinge post 86 carried by the plate 85 in spaced relation to the hinge post 84. Each pair of blade halves is interconnected by a link 88 equal in length to the spacing between the hinge posts 84 and 86, to hold the blade halves in spaced parallel relation as they are swung about the hinge posts and to their two operating positions.

The right hand pair of interconnected blade halves 80. and 82 are connected by a lever 90 on the blade half 82 to the piston rod of a hydraulic cylinder 92, which will operate to swing the interconnected blade halves S01 and 82 between a rearward operating position shown in full lines in FIG. 2 and a forward operating position shown in dotted lines in FIG. 2. Similarly, the left-hand blade halves 81 and 83 are interconnected by a link 88 and are connected by a lever arm 91 to the piston rod of a hydraulic cylinder 93 which will operate to swing such lefthand blade halves 81 and 83 between a rearward operating position shown in full lines in FIG. 2 and a forward operating position shown in dotted lines in FIG. 2.

As may be seen in FIG. 3, the lower ends of the hinge posts 84 and 86 are desirably interconnected by a runner shoe 94. The outer ends of the blade halves are also desirably interconnected by runner shoes 96 mounted at the lower end of swivel pins 98 rotatably mounted in the blade rib structure. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 6, each blade half has a cut-out portion 99, in position to receive one of the rails 12 when the blade halves are in either of their two operating positions.

In order to relieve the blade shifting cylinders 92 and 93 from ballast working stresses, the blades when in their working positions are locked to the frame 60 by locking means which holds the blades firmly during ballast working operations but which releases to permit blade shifting as desired. It is contemplated that the plow will be raised from its interengagement from the rails 12 when the blade halves are to be swung from one working position to another, and will be disengaged from any great mass of ballast. The plow may be raised for this purpose by lifting the mounting frame 40 of the headblock which supports the plow. Additional clearance can be obtained if needed by tilting the plow upward toward the dotted line travel position shown in FIG. l, but this is ordinarily not necessary and sufiicient clearance is obtained by merely lifting the mounting frame 40 in the headblock, by actuation of the lift cylinders 42.

The blade locking means is shown in FIGS. 2 and 6. Each front blade half 80 and `81 carries on its front face a keeper bracket 100, and each rear :blade half 82 and 83 carries on its rear face a keeper bracket 102. As each blade-half pair, e.g., blade halves 81 and `83, are swung to their rearward work position the keeper bracket 102 on the blade 83 engages a fixed keeper dog 104 on the rear portion of the frame member 63, and the front keeper bracket on the front blade half 81 is then latched by a pivoted dog 106 pivoted to the side frame member 63. Such pivoted dog is operated by a link 108 from an operating lever 110 fixed to a front keeper dog 112 similarly pivoted to the side frame member 63 and actuated by a hydraulic cylinder 114. The pivoted dogs 106 and 112 are movable from their locking positions shown in FIG. 6 to retracted positions, as indicated by the arrows in FIG. 6, in which they lie clear of the path of movement of the blade-halves. In operative position, the keeper dog 106 engages the bracket 100 and serves both to lock that bracket 100 and its blade `81 to the side frame member 63 and at the same time to lock the keeper bracket 102 in engagement with the fixed keeper dog 104 to secure the blade 83 in locked position.

When it is desired to swing the blades 81 and 83 from their rearward operative position shown in full lines in FIGS. 2 and 6, to their forward operative positions, shown in dotted lines in those figures, the hydraulic locking cylinder 114 is actuated to move the dogs 106 and 112 to retracted positions, the blades are then swung by actuation of the hydraulic cylinder 92. As the blades reach their forward loperating position, the front keeper bracket 100 will engage a fixed keeper dog 105 at the front of the side member 63, while the keeper bracket 102 will be positloned for engagement by the pivoted dog 112. Actuation of the cylinder 114 will then move such dog 112 into locking position to retain the blades in their forward working position. A like arrangement of keepers and dogs is mounted on the opposite side frame member -62 and the opposite half-blade pair 80 and 82, and operates in the llke manner to lock the blades 80 and 82 in either their rearward or their forward positions of operation.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, a track sweeper 120 is deslrably mounted immediately ahead of the track wheels 34 at the front end of the vehicle 10, to sweep the rails 12 clear of any ballast which may be left by the plow blades. Such sweeper is desirably retracted when the plow is raised. To this end, the sweeper 120 comprises a cross bar 122 fitted at each end with sweeper elements 124 adapted to ride on or close to the surface of the rails 12. Such cross bar is carried at the ends of two arms 126 pivoted at their rear ends to the carrier 32 for the track wheels 34. A cable extends from each arm 126 of the sweeper 120 upward to the rear cross member 68 of the plow frame, sothat when the plow frame 60 is raised, either bodily by actuation of the lift cylinders 42, or in tilting movement toward its travel position shown in dotted lines in FIG. 1, such raising of the plow frame will raise the track sweeper 120 away from the underlying rails 12. Likewise, if the wheel carriage 32 is raised to lift the track wheels 34 from `the rails, such lifting will also raise the track sweeper 120 from the rails.

Operation of the plow is as follows. For travel, either along a railway or on the roads, the entire plow assembly is tilted up to its travel position shown in dotted lines in FIG. 1 where it is completely removed from the underlying rails. For operation, the plow frame 60 is tilted down to a horizontal position by release of the cables 47 of the headblock carriage 40 on which the plow is supported. With the carriage 40 in raised position so that the plow blades clear the rails, the pairs of blade halves 80- 81 and 82-83 are swung to their desired operative positions. If it is desired to spread ballast outward, the blades are arranged in a V as shown in full lines in FIG. 2. For other ballast movement, the blades are positioned in other operative positions as desired. To move the blades between operative positions, the cylinder 114 is actuated to retract the locking dogs 106 and 112, and the cylinders 92 and 93 are then actuated to swing the blades 80-82 and y81-83 to the desired positions. When the blades have reached the desired positions, the cylinder is actuated to move the locking dogs 106 and 112 to locking positions. These adjustments are carried out while the plow is raised. When the plow blades have been placed in the desired positions, the plow frame is then lowered to operative position as shown in FIGS. 1, 3 and 6, by lowering the actuating cylinders 42 to lower the headblock carriage 40.

All manipulations of the blades and the plow frame are controlled by suitable hydraulic valves located in the cab 24, so that rapid and convenient changes of the plow to perform the desired operations are conveniently effected by the operator without leaving his control station. With the plow in operative position, the vehicle is then driven along the track, in either direction, propelled by its drive wheels 20 and guided by the rail wheels 34. The arrangement provides high tractive etort to push the plow blades in the direction of travel to distribute the ballast.

The plow may be operated simultaneously with other equipment on the prime mover 10. For example, in forward travel the plow may be used to roughly distribute ballast over the roadbed at the front of the vehicle and the broom 48 may be used simultaneously to produce a finished distribution of the ballast on the roadbed, all in one pass along the roadbed of the prime mover 10. Likewise, the plow may be used to distribute ballast from between the rails to the shoulders of the ballast bed, and the side wings may be used to distribute the ballast over the shoulders.

I claim: 1. A railroad ballast plow, comprising a plow frame, a pair of mounting pivots at laterally-spaced positions relative to the plow frame for mounting the frame to a support on a vehicle,

power-operated means for adjusting the frame longitudinally with respect to at least one of said mounting pivots to swing the frame laterally about the opposite pivot, and

means operable from a control position on the vehicle for adjusting said power-operated means for steering the frame relative to the vehicle.

2. A railroad ballast plow as set forth in claim 1 in which the frame is adjustable with respect to one of said pair of pivots and the other pivot is fixed relative to the frame.

3. A railroad ballast plow as set forth in claim 1 in which-said adjustable pivot is formed on a bolster which is slidably engaged by the frame, and said power operated means operates to slide the frame relative to the bolster.

4. Railroad ballast plow apparatus adapted to be carried by a railway vehicle, comprising a lift-carriage for supporting the plow from the vehicle and including power means for lifting and lowering the carriage relative to the vehicle,

a pair of laterally-spaced pivot mountings on said carriage for supporting a plow frame,

a railway ballast plow having a plow frame,

a pair of mounting pivots at laterally-spaced positions relative to the plow frame, said frame being mounted by its said pivots in the said laterally-spaced pivot mountings on said carriage,

power operated means for adjusting the frame longitudinally with respect to at least one of said mounting pivots to swing the frame laterally 'about the opposite pivot,

and means operable from a control position on the vehicle for adjusting said power-operated means for steering the frame relative to the vehicle.

5. Railroad ballast plow apparatus according to `claim 4, in which said pivot mountings comprise a pair of tilt brackets mounted on said carriage for tilting movement about a horizontal tilt axis,

and frame-tilting means on said carriage for supporting the plow frame in operative lowered position and for tilting the same upward about said horizontal tilt axis to a tilted position.

6. Railroad ballast plow apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising power means on said carriage for operating said frame-tilting means independently of said power means for raising and lowering said lift carriage.

7. A roadway plow comprising a plow frame a pair of blade-supporting posts in longitudinal spaced relation on said frame a pair of blade sections mounted for swinging movement on said posts and extending in spaced parallel relation from said posts and interconnected for parallel swinging movement between forward and rearward operative positions,

locking means for locking said blade sections in each of said operative positions, said locking means including latch brackets on each blade section,

a iiXed keeper at each operative position of said pair of blade sections in position to be engaged by the latch bracket on the leading blade section as it moves to operative position, and releasable dog means on the frame for engaging the latch bracket on the other blade section for retaining the leading-section bracket in said keeper and locking the said other section to the frame,

and first power means operable from a control position for moving said dog means between release and locking positions,

and second power means operable from such control position for swinging the blade sections between said operative positions when said dog means is released.

8. A railway plow comprising a plow frame,

blade means mounted for swinging movement about a xed swing support on said frame between two operative positions,

locking means having release and locking positions for locking said blade means in each of said operative positions to said frame at points remote from said swing support,

rst power means operable from a control position for moving said locking means between release and locking positions,

and second power means operable from said control positions for swinging said blade means between said operative positions when said locking means is released,

said locking means comprising a pair of oppositely engageable latch brackets on said blade means, a ixed keeper at each operative position engaged by one of said latch brackets as the blade means moves to such operative position,

and a releasable dog at each operative position to engage the other latch bracket to retain the said one bracket in engagement with said fixed keeper and lock the blade means to the frame.

9. A roadway plow as in claim 12, which comprises means interconnecting the releasable dogs at the two operative positions of the blade means for movement in unison between engaged and released positions,

said first power means comprising a power motor connected to operate both releasable dogs.

l10. A railroad ballast plow apparatus, adapted to be carried by a railway vehicle, comprising a lift-carriage for supporting a plow from the vehicle and including power means for lifting and lowering the plow,

a plow including a frame carried by the lift carriage,

having a lowered operative position and liftable by the carriage,

rail wheels for supporting the vehicle, disposed in position to follow the plow in operation thereof,

means for retracting said rail wheels,

a rail sweeper having an operative position adjacent the rails between the plow and the wheels,

means suspending the rail sweeper in depending relation from said wheel-retracting means and said plow frame to position the sweeper in said operative position when both the plow and wheels are in lowered 5 operative position and to lift the sweeper from the rails either when the plow frame is lifted or the wheels are retracted.

References Cited STATES PATENTS Manson 37-30 Allan 37-104 Vena 37-104 Kershaw 37--104 Kershaw 37-104 Kershaw 37-104 Pyke 37-104 Gardner 37-1 17.5 Gardner 37-117.5UX Salna et al. 37-117.5X Strabala et al 37-46X FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain 37-104 CLYDE I. COUGHENOUR, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R.

10 UNITED UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE 0F CORRECTION Patent No. 134605,297 Dated September 20, 1971 Inventor) John Knox Kershaw It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 7, Claim 9 line l, change "12" to 8 Signed and sealed this 7th day of March 1972.

(SEAL) Attest:

ROBERT GOTTSCHALK EDWARD M.FLETCHER,JR.

Commissioner of Patents Att-,eating Officer USCOMM-DC @DEUG-P69 RM IDO-1050 (1G-69) t u s GOVERNMENT Pnlnrmc. orrlce 19u o-ass-su 

